Rail anchor



Nov. 28, 1967 J. R. STEELE ETAL 3,355,105

' RAIL ANCHOR Filed May 4, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet .1.

El .z -5

F9. 5.. INVENTORS 15.131. Jammie/7 Jr;

Nov. 28, 1967 T L ETAL 3,355,105

AAAAAAAA OR 2 Sheets-Sheet f3 INVENTORS J1? .x iee'le United StatesPatent 3,355,105 RAIL ANCHOR James R. Steele and Stephen M. Lounsberry,Jr., Owego, N.Y., assignors to Moore & Steele Corporation, Owego, N.Y.,a corporation of Delaware Filed May 4, 1966, Ser. No. 547,598 7 Claims.(Cl. 238-330) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one piece rail anchor of thetype which makes three point engagement with the rail, both in itsinitial position when placed on the rail by hand and in the finalposition to which it is driven by mechanical force, that portion of theanchor which engages the under surface of the rail flange lying closerto the adjacent rail flange edge than does the point at which the railweb engaging portion engages a rail web surface, said surface and saidedge lying on the same side of the rail.

The present invention relates to rail anchors and particularly to animprovement in the type of rail anchor shown in our Patents Nos.1,890,066 and 2,493,686. During application to a rail, anchors of thetype disclosed in said earlier patents are hung on the rail by hand andthen force is applied, either manually with a Sledgehammer ormechanically by means of a rail anchor applying machine, in order tospring the anchor into place on the rail.

When these previous anchors are hung on the rail, the fillet bearing end(20 in FIG. 1 of Patent No. 1,890,066, 17 in FIG. 1 of Patent No.2,493,686) bears directly in the rail fillet as shown in FIG. 1 of eachpatent. In this preliminary position these anchors have no grip on therail and a small vibration or jar is sufficient to cause the anchor tofall ofr the rail, necessitating that it be rehung on the rail.Vibrations and jars are usually present during the time rail anchors arebeing applied since there are several men striking anchors if theapplication is manual, and if the application is by machine, the machineitself causes vibration. Indeed, some anchors would fall oil? the raildue merely to the action of gravity, if placed on the gage side of acanted rail such as rail superelevated for curves. In these cases it isnecessary for another person to hold the anchor up, from the oppositeside of the rail, while it is driven into permanent position.

Rehanging anchors consumes valuable time and increases the cost ofapplication. Applying anchors is a high production operation requiringseveral men, if the anchors are applied by hand, and two machines ifthey are applied mechanically. Therefore, anything serving to facilitatethe operation is highly desirable.

In the improved rail anchor according to the present invention, thegeometry of the anchor is such that the rail web engaging end does notgo all the way into the fillet, when the anchor is first placed on therail, but comes to rest about half way up the slope of the flange of therail, due to the pitch between said end and a convex under rail portion,the anchor being in contact with the rail base at three locations ashereinafter explained. Since rail bases customarily have a slope of 13to 14, which is slightly less than the angle of dry friction, the anchorcan be placed on the rail by hand with suificient force to prevent itfrom sliding back due to vibration or jarring of the rail. In otherwords, this improved anchor can be pushed on the rail by hand and itwill stay in position by pinching the rail base flange until it is fullyapplied by either manual or mechanical means.

One important difference between the present improved anchor andprevious anchors of this type is that the present anchor always achievesa three-point bearing on the Patented Nov. 28, 1967 rail base and stopson the wedge of the rail so that a slight springing is obtained when theanchor is placed on the rail by hand. This slight springing is enough tohold the anchor on the rail until the full and final application. Animportant object of the present invention, therefore, is the provisionof a rail anchor of such geometry as to provide the aforesaid advantage.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a rail anchor of thetype described, which provides approximately 40% greater resistance toturning and canting, and also 40% greater resistance to longitudinalrail movement or creeping than the conventional anchors of this type.

A further object is the provision of a rail anchor of the type describedwhich is so formed as to provide a built-in protection againstoverdriving.

A still further object is the provision of a rail anchor of the typedescribed, which is so formed as to possess increased resistance to theinadvertent removal of the anchor from the rail, its intentional removalbeing facilitated by use of a special tool.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent fromthe description which follows, read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a transverse section of a railroad rail to which ananchor according to the present invention has been applied in its firstposition;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, the anchor having assumed anintermediate position under the application of force by means of asledgehammer;

FIGURE 3 is a View similar to FIGURES 1 and 2 but showing the anchor inits final position;

FIGURES 4 and 5 are sectional views taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURES 6 and 7 are views similar to FIGURE 3, illustrating slightlymodified anchors made according to the invention; and

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 illustrating the use of a specialtool for removing the rail anchors of the present invention.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, reference ismade to the embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings anddetailed descriptive language is employed. It will nevertheless beunderstood that no limitation of the invention is thereby intended andthat various changes and alterations are contemplated such as wouldordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the inventionrelates.

In FIGURE 1 of the drawings there is illustrated, in transverse section,a railroad rail 10 having the usual web portion 11 and rail basecomprising the flanges 12 and 13, each of which joins the web 11 at asmall radius fillet 14.

, As is customary the rail base provides a flat under surface 15 forengagement with the conventional tie plate 9 (FIG. 4) which in turnrests upon the usual cross-tie 8 (FIG. 4). The upper surfaces 16 and 17of the flanges 12 and 13, respectively, are inclined to the horizontalat the usual angle of approximately 13 -14.

The rail anchor of the present invention comprises an under rail portiondesignated generally by the reference numeral 18 having a tie-engagingportion comprising the downwardly projecting loops 19 and 20 and aport-ion 21 adapted to engage the under surface 15 of the rail. A railweb engaging portion 22 is joined to the loop 20 by a straight portion23 While a rail flange engaging portion 24 is provided at the free endof the loop 19. Preferably that surface of the rail web engaging portion22 which is adapted to contact the web is curved on a radiusapproximating that of the adjacent fillet 14 although, as pointed outhereinafter, in the final applied position of the anchor, the portion 22does not engage closely in the corresponding fillet, but contacts therail web at a slightly higher point. Preferably the rail flange engagingportion 24 is provided with a lip 25 adapted to engage over the uppercorner of the flange edge 26 when the anchor is fully applied to therail.

As seen in FIGURE 1, when the anchor is initially engaged wtih the rail,the rail web engaging portion 22 and the under surface engaging portion21 contact the sloping surface 17 and the under rail surface 15,respectively, while the rail flange engaging portion 24 also engages theunder rail surface 15, the anchor thus having a three-point engagementwith the rail. In initially applying the anchor, the latter is manuallyapplied with sufficient force that, due to its natural resilience, theflange 13 is pinched between the anchor portions 21 and 22. Since thepoint K at which the under rail portion 21 of the anchor engages thesurface 15 lies closer to the edge of the flange 13 than does the pointI at which the web engaging portion 22 engages the surface 17, theresilience of the anchor causes the flange engaging portion 24 tocontact the under surface 15, as shown at L. Thus, the anchor is inthree-point frictional engagement with the rail, and will not bedislodged by minor shocks or vibrations during the period between itsinitial application and its completed installation.

After the anchor is placed on the rail, as shown in FIGURE 1, the nextstep is to drive the anchor up to the position shown in FIGURE 2. Thiscan be done with light controlled blows, if the anchor is being appliedwith a maul or sledge. When the end 22 reaches the fillet 14 joining therail web and base, it can no longer be moved by light blows due to theabutment of the fillet. Now, a heavy blow is struck at point at about 45with the vertical. This blow brings the overlying portion down onto thetop of the rail base and the flange engaging portion 24 snaps up on theedge of the rail base so that the anchor is in the position shown inFIGURE 3, with the lip 25 over the top corner of the edge of the railflange 12.

It will be noted that the radius R of the portion 22 is slightly out ofcoincidence with the radius of fillet 14, as a result of the designedspring take-up between end portions 22 and 24. This brings the grippingloads to bear at point M, N, G and C.

It has been determined that forces acting at H and H in FIGURE 3 are oflittle value in resisting the turning or canting of the anchor, sincethis turning takes place about the XX axis and since these H, H forcesare located on or very close to this axis. However, the tuming orcanting is greatly resisted by the frictional forces set up by thenormal forces V--V. These frictional forces act in directionsapproximately perpendicular to the axis of rotation XX and at a distancefrom the axis which gives them a moment arm to magnify their effect.

The section of greatest stress, in anchors of this general type, is atsection SS, FIGURE 3. Therefore, the stress at this section is thefactor that governs the amount of spring take-up and hence the magnitudeof forces VV. An important feature of the improved anchor is that pointG is at the left of point N (FIG. 3) and as close to point C as possiblewithout disturbing the smooth radius P. With this arrangement, it can beshown by the principles of mechanics of materials that vertical forces V(FIG. 3), are about 40% greater than they are in the conventional typeanchor with the same limiting stress at section S-S for both anchors.This means that the improved anchor has 40% greater resistance tolongitudinal rail movement, than the conventional anchors of this type.

FIGURE 4 shows a section thru 44 of FIGURE 3. This section shows how thesurfaces carrying the V gripping loads bear on the rail, thedistribution of forces being shown by the arrows. The concavity in theunder rail section at 21' is new to this type of anchor. This concavitycauses the edges E to be embedded in the soft decarburized skin of therail base by the load V.

FIGURE shows the same section as FIGURE 4 with the anchor under aworking load F. Now the vertical loads on the rail base have shifted sothat the upward force V is concentrated at the right edge of the underrail portion 21 and the downward force V is concentrated at the leftedge of the upper rail base flange corner because of the tendency of theanchor to rotate about axis XX. This action creates a bind on the railbase flange and because of the embedding of the edge E, into the softdecarburized skin of the anchor, caused by the large V load, theresistance to turning or canting is increased greatly beyond thatpossible with the conventional anchors which depend on frictionalresistance only.

Another form of the anchor is shown in FIGURE 6. This form has a step Uwhich is made by exerting extra pressure at T during the hot forgingprocess. This step is forged so that the vertical surface will come intocontact with the edge of the rail base if the anchor is overdriven by amechanical applicator or if the anchor is struck by a hammer with a blowin excess of the amount needed to spring it into its working position onthe rail.

This step is positioned in such relation to contact point N that step Ujust touches the rail edge when the anchor is installed on a rail withthe base rolled to the mean of the width tolerance. There is enoughspring or resiliency in the anchor to adjust to the variations in therail, above or below the mean size, that may occur due to mill rollingtolerances. Therefore, this step prevents a damaging amount of overdriveand due to the spring design of the anchor, it can adjust itself tovariations caused in the rolling of the rail.

The anchor of the present invention can also be made with the additionof a step 27 as shown in FIGURE 7. This step is contiguous with thebottom of the rail base at the rail edge, as shown, and prevents thisend of the rail anchor from sliding upward in case of a load applied asshown by the arrow 28. Such a load is sometimes developed by the waveaction of the rail, under traflic, when the anchor is embedded in frozenballast.

This step 27, in conjunction with lip 25, creates an additional bindingaction on the rail edge which helps to resist any tendency of the anchorto tilt or turn under a rail creeping load.

The present rail anchor, in any of its forms, is preferably made fromrectangular steel bars, a suitable size being A thick by 1% wide. Thetype of steel used is a high carbon or an alloy steel that can be givena spring temper.

FIGURE 8 illustrates the manner in which a special tool designatedgenerally by the reference character 29 may be employed for convenientlyremoving the rail anchors of the present invention. The tool 29 maycomprise an elongated bar 30 of cylindrical or other section having ahandle portion 31 toward one end and, secured toward the other end, amember 32 having the profile of an inverted I, the member 32 beingsuitably braced as by the member 33. The manner of using the tool 29 toremove the rail anchor is believed to be obvious.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A one piece rail anchor comprising an under rail portion having a tieengaging portion and a portion adapted to engage the under surface ofthe rail, a rail web engaging portion, and a rail flange engagingportion, said under surface engaging portion having the form of anupwardly convex smooth curve of which, when said anchor is in finalposition, the uppermost convex portion engages said rail under surfaceat points lying in substantial alignment longitudinally of said rail,which points are closer to the adjacent rail flange edge than the pointat which the rail web engaging portion engages a rail web surface, saidlast surface and said flange edge lying on the same side of thelongitudinal axis of said rail.

2. A one piece rail anchor as in claim 1, the upper surface of saidconvex portion being concave between its edges which extend transverselyto the rail, whereby only said last mentioned edges engage said undersurface.

3. A one piece rail anchor as in claim 1, formed of spring metal andhaving a transverse take-up such that the rail web engaging portioncontacts a rail web surface, when said anchor is in final position, at apoint sufficiently above the juncture of the rail web and flange so thatsaid anchor does not engage said flange between said juncture and theadjacent edge of said flange.

4. A one piece rail anchor as in claim 1, said under surface engagingportion being joined to said rail web engaging portion by a smoothlycurved portion extending around the adjacent rail flange edge andengaging the latter at its upper extremity when said anchor is in finalposition.

5. A one piece rail anchor as in claim 1, said under surface engagingportion being joined to said rail web engaging portion by a smoothlycurved portion extending to the adjacent rail flange edge, a seatportion for engaging the latter toward its upper extremity, and asubstantially straight portion extending from said seat portion to saidrail web engaging portion.

6. A one piece rail anchor as in claim 1, said under surface engagingportion being joined to said rail flange engaging portion by a smoothlycurved portion terminating in a hook member included in said rail flangeengaging portion.

7. A one piece rail anchor as in claim 1, said under surface engagingportion being joined to said rail flange engaging portion by a smoothlycurved portion terminating in an offset providing an upwardly facingshoulder for engaging the under surface of a rail flange immediatelyadjacent an edge thereof, a flat area for engaging the said edge, and adownwardly facing shoulder for engaging the upper surface of said flangeimmediately adjacent said edge.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,540,614 6/1925 Gillmer 2383301,674,859 6/1928 Fairweather 238-330 1,777,991 10/1930 Moore et al.238-330 1,781,191 11/1930 Preston 238-330 3,159,347 12/1964 Neely238-330 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. R. A. BERTSCH, AssistantExaminer.

1. A ONE PIECE RAIL ANCHOR COMPRISING AN UNDER RAIL PORTION HAVING A TIEENGAGING PORTION AND A PORTION ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE UNDER SURFACE OFTHE RAIL, A RAIL WEB ENGAGING PORTION, AND A RAIL FLANGE ENGAGINGPORTION, SAID UNDER SURFACE ENGAGING PORTION HAVING THE FORM OF ANUPWARDLY CONVEX SMOOTH CURVE OF WHICH, WHEN SAID ANCHOR IS IN FINALPOSITION, THE UPPERMOST CONVEX PORTION ENGAGES SAID RAIL UNDER SURFACEAT POINTS LYING IN SUBSTANTIAL ALIGNMENT LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID RAIL,WHICH POINTS ARE CLOSER TO THE ADJACENT RAIL FLANGE EDGE THAN THE POINTAT WHICH THE RAIL WEB ENGAGING PORTION ENGAGES A RAIL WEB SURFACE, SAIDLAST SURFACE AND SAID FLANGE EDGE LYING ON THE SAME SIDE OF THELONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID RAIL.